Aftermath
by I's that C
Summary: Five Wounded, two dead in Konoha High School shooting. The headline was plastered over every newspaper, the topic of every news report. Everywhere he turned, the headline was all Naruto saw. All he wanted was for it to go away. Highschool AU 3-shot. TW: Language and possible disturbing themes.
1. Headlines

**Title: Aftermath**

 **Chapter: Headlines  
** **Universe: Modern day AU, high school, three-shot**

… **Aftermath…**

 _Five Wounded, two dead in Konoha High School shooting_

The headline was plastered over every newspaper, the topic of every news report. Everywhere he turned, the headline was all Naruto saw. All he wanted was for it to go away.

But of course it wouldn't.

Konoha was a small town. Everyone knew each other. They were a close knit community, a family. With news this big, this would be all anyone talked about for months. Maybe even years.

 _Five Wounded, two dead in Konoha High School shooting_

 _On Monday, November 3_ _rd_ _, a student at Konoha High School fatally shot one teacher and wounded five students after opening fire in the hallways between classes. Two of those wounded remain in critical condition._

" _They were my students, I watched them grow up," commented teacher Umino Iruka in the hours following the fatal event. "Words cannot explain how shocked and saddened I am. This should not have happened. I can't believe this happened."_

 _The shooter was identified by authorities as the son of Konoha's chief of police, Uchiha Fugaku; he declined further comment about Uchiha Sasuke, 17, who took his own life immediately following the shooting._

 _Authorities reported finding a list in Uchiha's school locker of names believed to be the main targets of the shooting._

 _Haruno Sakura, 16, was one of the students whose name appeared on the "hit list."_

" _I know I should feel lucky. I could be in the hospital like the others, I could be dead," Haruno told reporters tearfully. "But I just keep thinking, why me? What did I do wrong?"_

 _The teacher who was fatally wounded in the shooting was Hatake Kakashi, Uchiha's math teacher. Students say that he was very well liked. He died protecting Haruno and two other students._

He was in Kakashi's classroom now. It was surreal to think that the silver haired man was gone-that he was not merely late coming back from lunch. Naruto looked around the room. Most of the class was absent. A few had been transferred to different school by their parents. A few were not yet ready to come back. A few were still in the hospital. And one was-

He turned his head back to the front of the room, where Iruka spoke quietly with the school psychologist. He did not dare to look at the empty desk beside him.

… **Aftermath…**


	2. Group Therapy

**Title: Aftermath**

 **Chapter: Group Therapy  
** **Universe: Modern day AU, high school, three-shot**

… **Aftermath…**

The late bell rang, and a few people winced, remembering what happened last time they heard that bell. Iruka clapped his hands together to get their attention, though it wasn't needed. No one was talking. No one was laughing. Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Kiba, Shikamaru, Hinata, and Neji—the only ones who had showed up—all sat in silence.

"Good morning class," he began, his voice laced with a sort of fake cheer that made Naruto cringe. He cleared his throat and stepped to the side, gesturing to the woman beside him. "You all know Yuuhi Kurenai, I'm sure." His smile faltered and instead he just looked tired. "She's here to talk to you all about… about the shooting." He looked as if he wanted to say more, as if he wanted to comfort them, to reassure them that he understood what they were going through, but instead he shook his head and stepped to the side.

Kurenai gives them a small smile. "I understand this is a hard time for everyone here," she said in a soothing voice that made Naruto angry because she didn't understand. She wasn't there when _it_ happened. "And I know all of you are struggling with some feelings that you might not understand. So we're going to take a break from our lessons today and try to work through some of those feelings." She sat on the teacher's desk and Iruka took one of the empty seats in the front row.

Silence.

"Would anyone like to begin?" she encouraged gently, looking at each of the seven students in turn.

After a moment, Sakura hesitantly raised her hand.

"Go ahead, Sakura. And don't worry about raising your hand," she added, addressing the rest of the class. "We're just having a conversation here."

Sakura looked down at her hands, sniffling. "I heard from someone that Kakashi-sensei is…" Her lips quivered. "My mom won't let me read the news. Is it true that he's dead?" She looked up at Kurenai, emerald eyes pleading.

Kurenai lends her a look of sympathy. "Yes, it's true. I'm very sorry."

Sakura let out a sob and covered her face with her hands. Ino reached over with her good arm-a bullet had grazed her and her right arm was in a sling-and gave her hand a squeeze. "Who else?" she asked softly. "Did anyone else die?"

"Just Uchiha," Kiba answered for her. "Good fucking riddance." His words wrenched a sob from Sakura's throat, and several students flinched at the sound, thoughts turning to the sobs that had wracked the halls with a deafening echo that fateful day. He looked around at his fellow classmates whose gazes were locked upon their empty desks, an angry look marring his features. "What? You know we were all thinking it."

"Kiba, you can't just—"

Kurenai raised her hand. "It's alright Shikamaru. It's okay to be angry, and it's okay to express that anger."

Shikamaru followed his classmates' examples and turned his eyes downward. "I just… don't understand…" His brows furrowed. Not understanding was something that was unfamiliar to him. Of course he could piece together his deceased classmate's motives… but the means to the end—that was where he was stumped. How could Sasuke have done something like this? He hadn't been in the halls where the incident had occurred and he wondered if he'd been there, maybe he could have seen it coming. Maybe he could have stopped it.

Neji cleared his throat. "Well, I have some anger to express too." He glanced to his younger cousin, who still sat motionless with her head buried into her folded arms on her desk, his eyes displaying said anger perfectly. Unlike him, she had been right in the middle of the fray. She had watched their teacher die as one of the students he was protecting. His jaw tightened and his brows furrowed as he recalled her sheet white face once they were safe at home. Her father had forced her to come today. If it had been up to her, she would have never stepped foot in the halls of KHS ever again. "I agree with Kiba. I'm glad he's dead. I only wish he'd killed himself without taking anyone else with him." He turned to glare at Shikamaru and then at Sakura. "You can all sit here with those confused looks on your face and say how you don't understand how this happened. But deep inside we all know. Uchiha was _crazy_. We all saw it," he insisted. "None of us should be surprised that this happened."

Kurenai fixed him with a frown and a look of concern. "What exactly do you mean by crazy?"

He hesitated, but only for a moment. "Well, I mean… he cut himself a lot. Pretty badly, too. A lot of them needed stitches. Outside of class he didn't really bother to try hiding it either."

Shikamaru shook his head wearing an annoyed look. "But that doesn't mean anything. Self-injury and violence towards others hardly correlate."

Kiba bared his teeth. "Shut up. Normal people don't do this kind of shit. You want to make excuses for his psycho behavior? Be my guest. But you can't argue that he wasn't messed up in the head. He hated all of us. He never talked to anyone. Did _you_ see the list?" He didn't wait for an answer. "You were on it you know, Shikamaru. Every one of us here was." He paused, turning slowly to the back of the room where Naruto sat trying to make himself invisible. "All of us except for him." Everyone had turned to look at him, and Naruto found himself wishing that he had chosen not to come into school today. "He liked _you_." Kiba muttered. "You were the only one that talked to him. You were with him all the time. You really mean to tell me that you didn't know he was going to try and kill all of us?"

Silent tears streamed down Sakura's face as she captured him with a distraught look that begged to know the answer to that question.

"Did Sasuke mention anything, Naruto?" Kurenai asked gently. "If so you should have told someone."

At that comment Naruto could feel the emptiness that had persisted within him being filled with anger. "No, he didn't say anything to me."

"Bull." Kiba shot him a glare that made him happy that looks couldn't kill. "I don't believe that for a second."

"Well, believe it because it's true," he shouted back. This wasn't fair. None of them knew what he was going through right now. After all, none of them had watched their best friend put a bullet in his brain. "I didn't know this would happen. He didn't say _anything_ about this." Naruto wondered why he hadn't. The day before the shooting had been completely normal. They'd arrived at school early. They went to class and afterschool sports, punctuating long silences with friendly banter. Nothing seemed off. Sasuke had even been in a slightly better mood than usual, even.

The next day was just like the last—at least at first. They'd arrived at school early. They'd gone to classes. They'd punctuated their silences with friendly banter. And then without warning he'd pulled the gun from his bag and fired the first shot. For some the incident seemed to stretch on for an eternity. For Naruto it only felt like a few seconds before Sasuke turned his cold dark eyes from the lifeless form of their teacher—whom Naruto could tell he had not meant to kill- to his, pressed the barrel of the gun to the side of his own head and pulled the trigger. He opened his mouth trying to say something, anything, but he couldn't think of the words to express the thoughts racing through his mind. In the end, it didn't matter anyway because Kiba interrupted him.

"I wonder why he left you alive," Kiba said softly though his tone was dripping with malice. "Maybe he left you to finish what he started." The words triggered the class's discussion into pure chaos. Everyone was shouting, some like Shikamaru and Sakura coming to his defense, others agreeing with Kiba, and still others simply cursing Uchiha Sasuke's name. Iruka and Kurenai tried to rein them in, but their voices were masked by the pure emotion each of their students were expressing.

They carried on, voices growing louder and louder, until finally Hinata lifted her head and let out a long, anguished wail.

… **Aftermath…**


	3. Aftermath

**Title: Aftermath**

 **Chapter: Aftermath**

 **Universe: Modern day AU, high school, three-shot**

… **Aftermath…**

The silence in juxtaposition to the noise and chaos from just seconds before was deafening. All eyes had turned from Naruto to the previously unnoticed Hyuuga. "Stop it," she whimpered, her voice sounding so small in the mostly-empty room. "Leave him alone. Just… stop it. All of you!"

"Hinata…" Neji stood up from his desk and walked over to her, tentatively placing a hand on her shoulder, but she shook him off.

"But…" Kiba protested, gesturing back at the object of verbal abuse, "it's _his_ fault that—"

He was silenced by another wail, Hinata's voice growing hysterical. "No it's not! Don't you see? It's all of our fault," she screamed. Everyone stared in wide eyed shock at her trembling frame. No one had ever expected little Hyuuga Hinata to blow up in such a manner. Even Kurenai and Iruka were unsure how to respond.

She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself. "We are all to blame."

"Hinata," Kurenai comforts gently, "it's very common and perfectly normal to feel guilty after bearing witness to a tragedy like this. But you have to remember that it's not your fault. It was Sasuke's decision to do this. No one else's."

"Seriously," Kiba muttered. "Don't blame me for what that psycho did."

Hinata remained unconvinced. "But… that's exactly what I mean." She looked down at her twiddling fingers, pale eyes brimming with pain. "You said stuff like that about him all the time." Kiba took on an indignant expression, but Hinata did not give him the chance to open his mouth in protest. "Really? You never told him that he was a freak because of his scars? You never told him that he should just get it over with and kill himself already?" she stuttered, voice rising in pitch once again.

Kiba opened and closed his mouth, wanting to make an excuse, wanting to say that was not true. He glanced at his classmates searching for support, but all remained silent. After a moment he sighed in frustration, kicked the leg of an empty desk near him and stormed back to his own seat. He crossed his arms, prepared to tune out the rest of the discussion.

"You were right," she continued numbly, addressing her cousin. "We all knew he was hurting. We saw the cuts on his arms. We watched him withdraw further and further…" her lower lip began to tremble, her eyes filling with tears. "Any of us could have stopped this from happening." The tears began to spill. "Any of us could have reached out and tried to help him." She let out a barely stifled sob.

"But we didn't, and that's why we are all to blame!" And with that, she returned to her previous position with her head on her desk, her shoulders shaking as she cried.

"I… I'm sorry," Neji muttered, apologizing for his cousin's behavior. "She hasn't been well… I knew she wasn't ready to come back to school—"

"No, I… think she's right," Shikamaru said sadly. Her words had made sense, and he now understood what had confused him previously. Naruto had been severely bullied when they were all younger. He could have been popular, but Sasuke chose to befriend Naruto and bear the same burden of torment instead. It's true that Shikamaru had sometimes wondered why Sasuke had made that choice. Why he stuck with Naruto, and why, unlike his optimistic and upbeat friend, he responded to the torment with disdain and hatred and self-destruction. Maybe there was something wrong with him. Perhaps he was borderline or antisocial.

He'd never bothered to figure it out.

"I think we can all agree that Sasuke was… disturbed. I'm sure he had many reasons for deciding to commit suicide." He looked around at his peers. "But the method—the shooting— and the fact that Naruto was one of the only ones that weren't on the list… I think he was trying to make a statement. I don't think he meant for anyone else to die. Maybe Kakashi was an accident. I don't know. But I think the message was that we could have changed things."

The room fell silent once again, everyone in the room reflecting upon his troubling words, and no one seemed to be interested in adding anything else to the discussion. Kurenai, for all her training, was unsure where to go from here. The session had not gone the way she'd planned. Kiba remained fuming, hunched over his desk in anger. Neji looked as though he didn't know what to think. The young women in the class cried silently. Shikamaru looked numb. Iruka looked shocked—he had taught Sasuke for so long, and never had he picked up on the red flags that all of his students had recognized so easily. Kurenai cleared her throat to call the silent class to attention. "We're just about out of time here… If you think you need more time to talk, the school has several grief counselors on hand." She wanted to assure them that they were wrong, that they were not at fault, that they should not bear this on their shoulders, but she wasn't sure how to. She hadn't been there with them when it happened. She had not known the victims. She had not known the shooter. She was just a school psychologist. She wasn't equipped to handle this situation and she hoped that most of the students would seek out extra counselling from the psychologists they had contracted in… but hope was all she could do.

… **Aftermath…**

Naruto was the last to leave the classroom. Even Neji had helped Hinata out of her seat and called his father to take them home. He was rooted in his seat, too exhausted to get up to leave. His eyes move to the empty seat beside him at last. He wasn't sure who was to blame. He still didn't understand why this had happened. He wasn't even convinced that anyone could have helped Sasuke or changed the outcome of that day.

All he knew was that his best friend was dead.

… **END…**

 **This is the last part of Aftermath. This should go without saying, but I do not condone violence in any form. I'm not really sure what prompted me to write this but I hope it made sense. I've been working on it in tiny portions for quite a while (that's why I put up the parts so close together). I guess the moral of the story is that sometimes the people we love do the unthinkable, and it is impossible for anyone to truly understand why. Because why is more often than not a question that has no answer.**


End file.
